Columns

British author and philosopher C.S. Lewis once observed, "Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive."

I thought of Lewis' statement after the University of Louisville hired Bobby Petrino as its head football coach for the second time. Not being a Cardinal fan, forgiving the coach for his past mistakes was easy for me.

They say those big nostrils can sense the fear in you. Given my fluttery disposition and general wariness of any animal that I have to look up to, I've always kept my distance from horses.

But take a drive around Taylor County and you are sure to see several breeds and colors of horses living here. Local horse enthusiasts take great pride in their horses' training, bloodlines that go back several decades or more and even the distinctive coloring that sets each one apart.

Everybody wants to make more money, and people making minimum wage are certainly at the top of that list.

Some Democrats in the Kentucky legislature are also looking to help those in the Bluegrass state making minimum wage receive a pay raise, and they hope to see it climb from the current rate of $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour over a three-year period.

It's easy to say that the minimum wage should go up (it hasn't increased since 2009), but it's another thing to look at what it will do to those who make more than minimum wage.

When "Duck Dynasty" patriarch Phil Robertson expressed his views on a variety of topics that included statements regarding homosexuality, executives of the A&E network acted surprised. It was as if they had no idea that Robertson felt the way he did.

A&E would like us to believe that Robertson's views were not representative of the network nor the "Duck Dynasty" show.

This time last year, I was freaking out. An aunt for the first time with very little experience with children, I was determined to make sure my niece, Taylor, would have a wonderful Christmas - but I had no idea what to get her.

After scouring store shelves and reading dozens of online reviews, I finally settled on a handmade Chenille robe, a Say Please tea set that was sold out nearly everywhere and a turtle nap mat with "Taylor" monogrammed at the top. But at 8 months old, she was too young to read or even open her presents.

Obamacare has proven to be a disaster for Kentucky. It has caused 280,000 residents to lose health insurance plans they already have. And Obamacare is taking away the ability for many to visit the doctors and hospitals they like. Now to that list of problems, add one more: Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. It very likely will cost the taxpayers of Kentucky dearly in the years to come and degrade access to care for many in the commonwealth.

Of all the gifts that Benjamin Franklin gave us, one of the most far-reaching has to be establishing the forerunner of our country's public libraries.

They have been a mainstay in Kentucky almost from the beginning, when the first opened in 1795 at what is now Transylvania University in Lexington. Some historians believe it was also the first outside the 13 original colonies.

On a frigid afternoon this past Tuesday, Dec. 10, some 65 people representing different expressions of faith gathered on the Boone Farm in Nelson County, affirming their belief that God is not pleased with what hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") is doing to his creation.